The Mutual Influence of Thermal Contact Conductivity and Convective Cooling on the Temperature Field in a Tribosystem with a Functionally Graded Strip

An analytical model to find the temperature field that has been developed for friction systems consists of a strip and semi-space. The strip is made of a two-component functionally graded material (FGM) with an exponentially changing coefficient of thermal conductivity. In contrast, the material of the semi-space is homogeneous. An appropriate boundary-value problem of heat conduction with constant specific friction power was formulated and solved using the Laplace integral transform method. The model takes into consideration the imperfect thermal friction contact between the strip and the semi-space, and also the convective cooling on the exposed surface of the strip. The appropriate asymptotic solutions to this problem for low and high values of Fourier number were obtained. It is shown how the determined exact solution can be generalized using Duhamel’s formula for the case of a linearly reduction in time-specific friction power (a braking process with constant deceleration). Numerical analysis for selected materials of the friction pair was carried out in terms of examining the mutual impact on the temperature of the two Biot numbers, characterizing the intensity of the thermal contact conductivity and convective heat exchange on the exposed surface of the strip. The obtained results can be used to predict the temperature of friction systems containing elements made of FGM. In particular, such systems include modern disc braking systems.